37 Facts About Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

1. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was a great freedom fighter, political leader, scholar and Bharat Ratna Awardee who was against the two-nation theory and had opposed division of India on the religious lines, and always stood for Hindu-Muslim unity.

2. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is remembered as one of the leading Indian nationalists of his time.

3. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, committed to a united India till his last attempt, was condemned by the advocates of Pakistan, especially the Muslim League.

4. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad masterminded the creation of national programmes of school and college construction and spreading the enrolment of children and young adults into schools, to promote universal primary education.

5. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad gave speeches to large crowds encouraging peace and calm in the border areas and encouraging Muslims across the country to remain in India and not fear for their safety and security.

6. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad took up responsibility for the safety of Muslims in India, touring affected areas in Bengal, Bihar, Assam and the Punjab, guiding the organisation of refugee camps, supplies and security.

7. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad had grown increasingly hostile to Jinnah, who had described him as the "Muslim Lord Haw-Haw" and a "Congress Showboy.

8. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad had been the Congress president since 1939, so he volunteered to resign in 1946.

9. In the early mornings, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad began working on his classic Urdu work, the Ghubhar-i-Khatir.

10. In the end, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad became convinced that decisive action in one form or another had to be taken, as the Congress had to provide leadership to India's people and would lose its standing if it did not.

11. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was wary and sceptical of the idea, aware that India's Muslims were increasingly looking to Jinnah and had supported the war.

12. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad supported dialogue with Jinnah and the Muslim League between 1935 and 1937 over a Congress-League coalition and broader political co-operation.

13. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad supported Nehru's re-election in 1937, at the consternation of many conservative Congressmen.

14. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad had backed the election of Nehru as Congress president, and supported the resolution endorsing socialism.

15. At the 1936 Congress session in Lucknow, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was drawn into a dispute with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr Rajendra Prasad and Chakravaachari regarding the espousal of socialism as the Congress goal.

16. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad had criticised the Act for including a high proportion of un-elected members in the central legislature, and did not himself contest a seat.

17. The biggest nationalist upheaval in a decade, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was imprisoned along with millions of people, and would frequently be jailed from 1930 to 1934 for long periods of time.

18. At the 1928 Congress session in Guwahati, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad endorsed Gandhi's call for dominion status for India within a year.

19. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad endorsed the ending of separate electorates based on religion, and called for an independent India to be committed to secularism.

20. In 1928, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad endorsed the Nehru Report, which was criticised by the Ali brothers and Muslim League politician Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

21. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad became an important national leader, and served on the Congress Working Committee and in the offices of general secretary and president many times.

22. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad became an inspiring personality in the field of politics.

23. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad served as president of the 1924 Unity Conference in Delhi, using his position to work to re-unite the Swarajists and the Khilafat leaders under the common banner of the Congress.

24. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad led efforts to organise the Flag Satyagraha in Nagpur.

25. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad joined the Congress and was elected president of the All India Khilafat Committee.

26. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is considered one of the greatest Urdu writers of the 20th century.

27. In this period Maulana Abul Kalam Azad became active in his support for the Khilafat agitation to protect the position of the Sultan of Ottoman Turkey, who was considered the Caliph or Khalifa for Muslims worldwide.

28. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad started a new journal, the Al-Balagh, which increased its active support for nationalist causes and communal unity.

29. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad developed political views considered radical for most Muslims of the time and became a full-fledged Indian nationalist.

30. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad compiled many treatises interpreting the Qur'an, the Hadis, and the principles of Fiqh and Kalam.

31. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad returned to Calcutta with his family in 1890.

32. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was born on 11 November 1888 in Mecca, then a part of the Ottoman Empire.

33. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was one of the main organizers of the Dharasana Satyagraha in 1931, and emerged as one of the most important national leaders of the time, prominently leading the causes of Hindu-Muslim unity as well as espousing secularism and socialism.

34. In October 1920, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was elected as a member of foundation committee to establish Jamia Millia Islamia at Aligarh in U P without taking help from British colonial government.

35. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad committed himself to Gandhi's ideals, including promoting Swadeshi products and the cause of Swaraj (Self-rule) for India.

36. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad became an enthusiastic supporter of Gandhi's ideas of non-violent civil disobedience, and worked to organise the non-co-operation movement in protest of the 1919 Rowlatt Acts.

37. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad became the leader of the Khilafat Movement, during which he came into close contact with the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi.